Genealogy of the Olmsted family in America : embracing the ...

Introduction xv
Remarks on the Foregoing Copy of the Harleian MSS.
The Holmestead or Olmestede family have not been found in Lancashire,
but they did occupy lands belonging to the Duchy of Lancaster, i. e., Crown
lands, in Essex.
There is no Felsted Grange, but Felsted Barton formed part of the possessions
of " Sion " alienated to Richard Rich, 17th March, 1537.
Nicholas. There is a will recorded of a Nicholas Olmstede, 1578.
James, supposed to be the ancestor of the emigrant.
John Holmestead of Hawsted (Halsted) was master of the horse to Edward,
17th Earl of Oxford, called the "Spendthrift," and speculated largely in
the lands which that nobleman alienated. John Olmestede had three daughters.
Richard Holmested was the son of William Holmested, of St. Lawrence,
County Essex. His wife's father, John Hawes, was also of St. Lawrence.
Will of John Hawes is dated August 7, 1613, (see p. xiii).
Thomas Holmested, minister at Kelvedon, was the son of John Olmsted
of Felsted and Elizabeth Roo, his wife. His grandfather was William of
Felsted. He leaves in his will, 1647, property situated in Felsted to brothers
and kinsmen and nieces in Sawbrideworth, County Herts.
EXTRACT FROM AN ADDRESS OF WELCOME
By Prof. Everett Ward Olmsted, President of the Olmsted Family Association,
Delivered at E. Hartford, Conn., June 20, 1912
In the northern part of the Parish of Bumpsted-Helion, in the County of
Essex, England, stands a long, low, and very ancient house of stone and
plaster, once moated round. This venerable manor, Olmsted Hall, now in
the possession of Queen's College, Cambridge, is the oldest edifice in existence
with which our family name is connected. It was originally held by one
Martin of Olmsted, under the lordship of the famous de Vere family. In
1242 it was in the possession of Maurice of Olmsted. And so it passed down
from father to son for several generations.
By the early part of the fifteenth century, however, it had already passed
out of the possession of those of the name into that of a knightly family called
Skrene. Whether this was a family related by marriage with the house of
Olmsted or not, it has been impossible to determine. It is not unlikely to
have been the case, however. At all events, in 1474, this manor, together
with other estates, came into the ownership of Wm. Lord Hastings, and nine
years later, when he was beheaded and his property confiscated, Olmsted Hall
passed into the hands of Elizabeth Woodville, widow of Edward IV, who was
then endowing as second patroness Queen's College, Cambridge.
Such, briefly, is the history of the old Hall as far as we know it. But
what were the Olmsteds doing all this time since their ownership of the Hall
had lapsed ? Are we to imagine that the family was extinct or inactive ?
By no means.
As their over-lords, the illustrious de Veres, were engaged about this
time in the Wars of the Roses, in support of the Lancastrian cause, and as the
Olmsteds of later generations have given ample proof of their courage and